The History of the Transformer

"It is the heart of the alternating-current system"

„ntroduction
What is a Transformer?
A transformer is a device that
transfers electrical energy
from one circuit to another
through inductively coupled
conductors³the transformer's
coils.
Who invented the transformer?
Lucien Gaulard, Sebstian Ferranti,
and William Stanley perfected the
design. see the next question for
more details.

William Stanley (USA) Lucien Gaulard (France Sebastian Ziani

de Ferranti
(England
When was the transformer invented? A:
The property of induction was
discovered in the 1830's but it wasn't
until 1886 that William Stanley, working
for Westinghouse built the first
practical transformer.

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William Stanley's First Transformer built in 1885

His work was built upon some
rudimentary designs by the Ganz
Company in Hungary (ZBD Transformer
1878), and Lucien Gaulard and John
Dixon Gibbs in England. Nikola Tesla
did not invent the transformer as some
dubious sources have claimed.
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Stanley's first transformer which was used in the

electrification of Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1886
The Europeans mentioned above did the
first work in the field, George
Westinghouse and Stanley made the
transformer cheap to produce, and easy to
adjust for final use.
Where were the first transformers used? The first
AC power system that used the modern
transformer was in Great Barrington,
Massachusetts in 1886. Earlier forms of the
transformer were used in Austro-Hungary 1878-
1880s and 1882 onward in England. X
Lucien Gaulard (Frenchman) used his AC system for
the revolutionary Lanzo to Turin electrical exposition
in 1884. „n 1891 mastermind Mikhail Dobrovsky
designed and demonstrated his 3 phase transformers
in the Electro-Technical Exposition at Frankfurt,
Germany.
 Transformer development timeline
1830s - Joseph Henry and Michael Faraday work
with electromagnets and discover the property of
induction

1836 - Rev. Nicholas Callan of Maynooth College,

„reland invents the induction coil
1876 - Pavel Yablochkov uses induction coils in his
lighting system

1878 -1883 - The Ganz Company (Budapest,

Hungary) uses induction coils in their lighting
systems with AC incandescent systems. This is the
first appearance and use of the toroidal shaped
transformer.

1881 - Charles F. Brush of the Brush Electric

Company in Cleveland, Ohio develops his own
design of transformer (source: Brush Transformers
„nc.)